Author Archives: lydias

About lydias

I'm a sci-fi writer who loves lifting weights and hates eating Brussels sprouts.

Suggestion Saturday: April 13, 2013

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, poetry, scientific studies and quite possibly the weirdest site I’ve ever seen online.

Jurassic Heart. Imagine going on a date with a Tyrannosaurus Rex named Taira. You two lovebirds will buy a new ukulele and eat lunch at the food court before heading over to a local park for a romantic stroll at dusk. If you play your cards right Taira might even play a song or two for you on his new instrument. I won’t lie, this is one of the most bizarre links I’ve ever included in Suggestion Saturday but it is completely kid- and work-safe for anyone interested in playing. Just please don’t ask me to explain why Taira likes the ukulele so much or when/how dinosaurs learned to speak English. 😉

Want to Help People? Just Give Them Money. I’ve always heard the opposite. Interesting.

Pavlov and His Dog are Waiting via PWChaltas. Now all we need is a response from Mrs. Pavlov to give her side of the the story!

Barbie Without Makeup. What an awesome concept. In general I find little to no makeup much more attractive than faces that are heavily made up. Of course it’s none of my business what anyone does with their face and I would never expect them to conform to my preferences but it’s nice to see I’m not the only one who feels this way.

From How to Look at a Woman:

Here is the thing: Overt displays of sexuality by a woman do not give you more of a right to judge, touch, shame or violate that woman’s boundaries in any way.  But they also don’t mean that you have to act like they are not happening.  There is a way of turning your gaze towards a sexually provocative woman that is neither demeaning nor dismissive.  There is a way of appreciating a woman’s beauty that acknowledges your own feelings without disrespecting her.

Why Smart People (Generally) Have Less Sex. This is fascinating information. Readers, how risk-averse are you?


The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is closer to an oral history that’s been committed to paper than a traditional novel. If you expect a linear narrative you’ll be disappointed but readers who imagine this book is a conversation about their own family tree with a relative who has a tendency to slip seamlessly from one decade (and perspective) to another will find a tale worth reading.

Hattie’s devastation at the death of her infant twins from a disease that could have been prevented with an inexpensive treatment she was too poor to afford haunts her for years. As her next 9 children grow up she prepares them for a cruel, heartbreaking world by witholding affection from them.

I’ll be very honest with you, readers: I strongly disliked Hattie as a human being. She’s a cold-hearted, abusive parent who should have never have retained custody of her kids. The repercussions of her “discipline” echoes for generations and it is only late in life that she begins to understand how badly she hurt her children. But she does eventually do so and what happens after that is why I recommend picking up this book.

What have you been reading?

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The Art of Being Zen

800px-Black_and_Orange_Tortoiseshell Continue reading

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What One Thing Would You Change?

Koi

Photo by Diether.

Another reader question today: What one thing would you change if you had to do it over again?

She was an odd duck.

Before and after class she muttered to herself. Her straight, uncombed, bright yellow hair stood on end as if she’d just received a static shock and her clothing, while fairly clean, was mismatched and several sizes too big. 

Sometimes she’d follow along with the conversation. At other times she slipped in and out of our plans for the weekend, summer or life after community college like a koi jumping out of an aquarium and then wondering what happened to all of the water. Her favourite topic was her pets. They understood her in ways people didn’t and she spent all of her free time with them. I have a vague memory of her mentioning out loud once after class how different her bond with her pets was from her fragile connections with other human beings.

She never understood why other people found her abrupt tone, odd mannerisms and non-standard use of the English language so bizarre.

I never said or did anything unkind to her. After a few aborted conversations I barely spoke to her at all.

I wish I had.

I wish I still remembered her name.

I wish she could have gotten some help. Her isolation (and loneliness?) was a skinny, brown puppy huddled in the corner waiting to be named.

I wish.

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Suggestion Saturday: April 6, 2013

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, videos, poetry and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

From The Friendship of a Cat via BillyDees:

They make even the clearest headed and most sensible person act like they have serious psychological problems. It’s like all that crazy talk and speaking in tongues, from both women and men, when their child is born. Upon meeting a kitten for the first time, it’s etiquette to talk to it in a very silly voice… and it’s a voice that stays with you for all your days together.

Skeptical Harry Potter. This would have made for a much more interesting introduction to Hogwarts for young Harry.

The Mystery of the Tiny Door in a Tree. I hope the Bay Area “gnomes” know they’re welcome in Toronto as well. How cool would it be to see something like this in High Park?!

Regret. What if regrets were living organisms?

The Art of Joyful Subversion. I met a few joyfully subversive grown-ups when I was a child. Every conversation we had about alternative ways of looking at the world fluttered around in my mind like a bulletin board full of yellow sticky notes. When I hit my late teens I began sorting through those reminders to see which ones I wanted to keep. I don’t know many children these days but I look forward to passing on the tradition as this changes. Who they actually grow up to be is none of my business but no one should be stuffed into a pre-determined fate.

Sometimes via RHMustard. It’s funny how old memories continue to surface years after a death. My grandmother has been gone for 22 years and as much as I am at peace with the short window of time we shared on this planet there are still days when I wonder what she’d think of everything that has changed since she left.


Tree: A Life Story vividly describes the life cycle of a fir tree and how every stage of its existence is in some way crucial for the survival of at least one other species. This book is perfect for readers who don’t have in-depth knowledge of botany or forest ecology. It describes technical terms and complicated relationships so poetically that at times I forget I was reading non-fiction.

What have you been reading?

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Where Do You Find Creative Inspiration?

"Inspiration," by Daniela from Bratislava, Slovak Republic.

“Inspiration,” by Daniela from Bratislava, Slovak Republic.

Yesterday I asked readers if they had any questions for me. Beginning today I will be answering them but it’s not too late to add to the queue  – just use the contact form or leave a comment with your questions.

1. Wild Dreams. I always leave a notebook by the side of my bed to use for jotting down ideas when I’m startled out of sleep by a weird dream. Great ideas also pop up when I’m in the process of falling asleep or waking up.

2. Social Irritants. Everyone has a list of people, places and experiences that makes them twitchy. Longterm readers know I get quite annoyed with proselytizers (religious, political, or otherwise!) and people who apply too much perfume or cologne right before getting on the elevator. The upside to tasting someone’s scent of choice, spending time with someone who rubs me the wrong way or being bombarded with the One True Way ™ is that these things are great fodder for blog posts and short stories.

3. Other Writers. Twitter, Google+ and a diverse RSS feed pump new ideas into my head every day. I make a point of following some blogs and individuals who do not agree with my worldview because I’ve learned more from people on the other side of many “fences” than I would from an army of folks who already agree with me. All I ask is that their essays, poems or posts are well-written, thoughtful and don’t bash anyone.

4. Unforgettable Characters. Have you ever read a book or watched a movie whose main character was so amazing you found yourself growing a little obsessed with him or her? Occasionally I’ll meet a character – my own or someone else’s – so interesting that I find myself walking down the street wondering how they would react to dangerous or unexpected situations. Vestal Jenkins in the book The Kind of Girl I Am and Kaylee from the TV show Firefly are two fantastic examples of this.

5. Anxious Ideas. Occasionally when I’ve had too much caffeine or have been under a ton of stress my thoughts run away from me. Rather than taking them seriously, though, I push them into silly extremes.

Mind: That was a loud noise! What if the ceiling collapses while we’re sleeping?

Me: Well, then someone else will have to clean up the mess. That’s the beauty of renting an apartment. 😉

Mind: But wouldn’t it crush us?

Me: Maybe, but we have government-sponsored healthcare so any treatments would be free.

Mind: Oh, but what if it collapses and kills us?

Me: Then we will come back as a ghost who realizes she’s dead and has no interest in following the light. Once a new apartment building is built we will only frighten tenants who are noisy at night or wear too much cologne in the elevator. Now go to sleep!

Respond

Where do you find inspiration?

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You Ask, I Write

"Un gatto interrogativo- A question mark" by Mauro

“Un gatto interrogativo- A question mark” by Mauro

Bruce Gerencser recently asked his readers for ideas for upcoming posts.

I love this idea so I’m stealing it.

What topics would you want to see at On the Other Hand in the future? Is there anything I’ve written about that you’d like to revisit?

What do you think Interrogative Cat is questioning? 🙂

 

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Less Guilt, More Pleasure

Ice_Cream_dessert_02

Photo by Lotus Head. Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

I loved the first Backstreet Boys song I heard on the radio. It was catchy and fun to listen to as I rode my bike around our neighbourhood in the summer of 1997. And then I figured out that the Backstreet Boys were a boy band and instantly stopped admitting I liked their CD. I was a serious poet, you see, and could not be seen earnestly bopping along to guilty pleasures like pop ballads.

One of the unexpected surprises of growing up was learning how freeing it is to stop believing in hierarchies. Scrambled eggs and ketchup were made for one another. Jodi Picoult’s body of work and almost every dystopian novel ever written are so much fun to read I’d rather stay up an extra hour to learn how these stories end than feel well-rested tomorrow. Sometimes the best way to wrap up a long day is by dancing to The Hits: Chapter One.

You may or may not agree with my taste in food, books or music. That’s ok. I have an aversion to olives, Inspirational fiction and Bluegrass but that doesn’t make any of these things objectively good or bad. Feeling guilty for liking the “wrong” things is counterproductive and silly.

For example, I absolutely abhorr F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing style in The Great Gatsby. I had to read it in high school and it was all I could do to not fling that silly book out the window every time Nick pined over not being married to his snotty, deceitful (second) cousin.

Beowulf has been one of my all-time favourite tales because the poetry was beautiful and I immediately sympathized with Beowulf’s fierce desire to protect his community. Some of my classmates loved The Canterbury Tales but The Wife of Bath was the only character I found particularly amusing in that book.

Classic music or novels become classics in large part because ordinary people find universal truths in their subject matter and continue to seek them out decades after they were originally released. Today’s classics were often yesterday’s bestsellers and may have been considered “lowbrow” entertainment when they first came out.

Does this mean that I’m the final authority on what’s good in life? No, not everything can or should appeal to everyone!

Just keep your stinky olives away from me. 😉

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Suggestion Saturday: March 30, 2013

Park

Photo by Jacek Cisło.

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, photographs and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

This Man Thinks He Never Has to Eat Again.  The man profiled in this article has almost completely switched from eating food to drinking a fortified smoothie he recently invented. Even if this is shown to be safe I like food too much to give it up entirely but with my milk allergy it would be wonderful to keep a serving or two of human “kibble” on me for those occasions when it’s difficult to find safe stuff to eat.

Years. How many years does it take for the horrors of slavery to fade?

From I Wore Red Today:

I have been on this journey of coming out, acknowledging who I am, and looking to live my full life for almost one year.  I have been scared at times.  I was depressed enough to briefly think about suicide earlier in this journey.  I was frustrated.  And then I felt something I almost never expected to feel – the joy of loving and being loved by someone who I could fully bond with emotionally.

The Case for Getting Married Early.  I’ve known teenagers who are ready to get married and people three times that age who haven’t even figured out how to be a good friend yet so I’m puzzled by (white) Toronto’s deep aversion to getting married young. If you’re in love and both feel ready to make that commitment why allow something as arbitrary as age stand in your way?

The Vital Importance of Having a Flossideegibbet.Now I want one!

Remember This Lady? I Didn’t Either. Irena Sendler saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish infants and children during World War II. And then the Nazis figured out what she was doing…

On Missing Childhood. The further away you are from childhood the easier it is to romanticize it. Kids have little to no control over what happens in their lives and they can be terribly, remorselessly cruel to one another. These are two facts I think many grown-ups forget when they gush about how nice it was to be age X. I actually had a wonderful upbringing but was still thrilled to grow up, take responsibility for my own life and choose who remained in it.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox isn’t an easy story to promote without giving away major spoilers. Sufficed it to say Jenna is a teenager recovering from a nearly fatal car accident whose family has been acting quite strangely since she began regaining her short and long-term memory.

This is the perfect book for anyone who found the world more confusing than ever before when they were seventeen. At that age I knew just enough to realize how much I hadn’t figured out yet and not having all of the answers felt like walking around with a pebble in my shoe.

What have you been reading?

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Life Brings You

A reader recently found this blog through this search phrase: life brings you? poem.

This is my answer to the question. Leave your version of this poem in the comment section. If you blog about it I’ll edit this post to include a link to your site.

Life brings you…

surprises. Some stories end too soon, others

are resolved just when you think it’s impossible

to squeeze in one more syllable on the page.

 

pain. It can be so sharp it takes your breath

away, so long-lasting you forget how it began.

But anyone who says it will never end is lying.

 

co-conspirators. You may find them right away

or gather a few at a time but the world is full of

kindred spirits. The lucky ones realize it early.

 

 Taxes. Need I explain more? 😉

 

 

 

 

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Suggestion Saturday: March 23, 2013

I CareHere is this week’s list of blog posts, I Care messages, six word stories and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

I Care. Count me in!

Porn for All, Not a Ban, Is Better for Women. Not all sex work is exploitative and not all mainstream jobs are dignified. Most porn doesn’t actually appeal to me but I don’t have any issues with other adults watching it.

The 30 Happiest Facts of All Time. The best ones were 7, 17 and 21.

Too Many Pets and Not Enough Animals. I know I’m guilty of this.

Black and Bengali. Have you heard of the historic district of Tremé? As genetic ancestry tests become less expensive and more well-known I suspect there will be a lot of people  surprised by the actual ethnic origins of their ancestors. For many years avoiding horrific but often legally-sanctioned consequences was an excellent reason to lie about your identity. And of course there have always been secret adoptions, affairs, and women who don’t or can’t know who the father of their child is due to a wide variety of circumstances!

The Photograph. A challenge for my creative readers: write a six word story about what you think is happening in this photograph and then post it in the comment section. (This picture is work-safe but the rest of the site is not.)

My entry:

After the sacrifice we smelled rain.

 Ripple. A story about rippling kindness from my new Twitter friend, Ani Sangye.


If you’ve ever wished books didn’t have so many words Talking Pictures is what you need to read! It is a charming book full of vintage pictures, postcards and short messages to and from ordinary people. I loved thumbing through it and imagining what the lives of the subjects were like 40, 60, 80 or more years ago.

What have you been reading?

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